Home > Shop > Justin Gilday

Justin Gilday

Justin Gilday’s work is as much an investigation into his subject matter as it is a piece of art. For him, the opportunity to examine the insects up close is an important part of his process.

Simply put his art is the culmination of his life experience: “I learnt the basic techniques I now use whilst training as a dental technician, in combination with a career in pest control that has given me an insight into the world of insects and creatures. That isn’t to say the curiosity wasn’t there during my training; my chief technician felt that the only way to learn was to experiment, and so I cast my first cockroach at the age of 17”.

Drawing inspiration from the raw beauty of nature, coupled with a passion for wood in its natural sculptural form, he attempts to convey a creature’s beauty. Even the malign wasp and hornet are intricate and wonderful to observe when not concerned about being stung. However, it is the simplicity of the materials which allows him to develop the humour and emotional statements that more often than not are allegorical to life.

The artist uses the ancient lost wax technique to create his works in silver. It involves taking organic matter and investing it in a plaster silica compound and then exposing it to a high heat to burn out the matter, leaving a void into which molten silver is poured. The wood in contrast is naturally formed, and the raw nature of it is not touched but instead arranged. All the wood onto which the silver is set is a small portion of a much wider collection accumulated by Gilday, who has a passion for collecting.